The moisturizing nutrient (Vitamin A)

Ciao Nutrinutters!

As we start the holiday season I hope everyone has a Wonderful December!!!...the last month of 2013! Crazy how that went by so fast huh? And for all of the students reading this, good luck on your finals! :)
I thought about starting a little A through Z review....cover all the vitamins and minerals...are you up to take this journey with me???? This will benefit me greatly too since I get a lovely review out of it! ;)


Being there are so many of them, I figure we can start in alphabetical order and go from there...
Ladies and gents I introduce to you "the Amazing A"....vitamin A!

Vitamin A's special participation in the body

This vitamin is the moisturizing nutrient since it keeps your skin and mucous membrane (which is the tissue that lines the eyes, nose, mouth, throat and more) smooth...ladies, we don't need to go crazy and start popping vitamin A pills ok? :) .

There's more! This vitamin is also important because it makes a pigment that is responsible for the proper functioning of the retina, essential to maintain good vision, specially when the lights are low (such as when this nutrinut goes crazy with candles, don't judge ;) )... therefore being also known as the vision vitamin.

And since the fun never stops, this vitamin is also important for the growth of healthy bones and teeth, it is essential in reproduction during pregnancy and lactation for the production of hormones and is a definite participant in helping your immune system kick some infections' behinds!

What happens when I don't have enough Vitamin A?

A process called keratinization may take place in the skin, cornea, lining of nose, mouth throat and other tissues. Basically what this means is that the cells lose their humidity and is restored by a fibrous material that is mainly made of keratin. Keratin might do wonders to our hair, but we certainly don't want this process happening where its not meant to. This may lead to frequent infections in the respiratory and digestive systems. Also, since this is the vision vitamin, a serious deficiency may also lead to night blindness.

These are some countries that have more vitamin A deficiency according to the World Health Organization in 2009 (VAD stands for vitamin A deficiency)

Let's stalk up in vitamin A, right???

Arrêt! (a little french  for you - STOP). Let's analyze this one a little closer shall we? Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin which means that since they dissolve in fat they are stored in your fatty tissues. So what's the problem? Simply that your body doesn't eliminate the excess that easily as vitamins that are water-soluble. 

Too much vitamin A is also a problem. Toxicity symptoms may vary from dry skin and skin turning yellow to nausea and more serious ones such as liver damage.

What are some good sources?

Vitamin A has the active form, that is better absorbed in the body such as retinol, and forms that need to be converted into vitamin A in your body, such as beta-carotene. This one might sound familiar to you...beta-carotenoids are responsible for giving fruits and vegetables yellow and orange colors and also acting as antioxidants (I will cover antioxidants better later, promise).

Retinol will always come from animal sources such as eggs, cheese, fortified milk and butter.
Carotenoids on the other hand will be found in plant sources such as: apricots, carrots, cantaloupe, pumpkin, sweet potato and many others.

How much is enough but not tooooo much?

For men over 14 years, it is recommended 900 micrograms (mcg) and for women over 14 years, 700 mcg of vitamin A per day. Pregnant and lactating women do need a little more, 770 and 1300 mcg respectively. You should be very careful to not take more than 3000 mcg daily because of the toxicity symptoms we discussed above.

Well, that summarizes a little for you vitamin A. Thanks for staying tuned! Let's continue this journey next week shall we??? Have an amazing week!!!

-The Nutrinut-

Reference: Nutrition 411 and Nutrition for Dummies